Tourists, local residents and night-watchmen had reported agonising screams, unexplained lights and terrifying apparitions in the maze-like streets. ibid.
7Emboldened by their settlement on Ischia a group of Euboeans then set out and settled across the Bay of Naples. Here with Iskia visible on the horizon they founded the first Greek settlement on the mainland of modern Italy – Cumae. Professor Robin Lane Fox, Greek Myths: Tales of Travelling Heroes, BBC 2010
Florence: a crucible of the Italian Renaissance. A time of outstanding achievement when secrecy was the price of success. In architecture, science and art. It’s a city built on secrets now being revealed. Secrets of Florence, National Geographic Channel 2012
Florence is the capital of Tuscany, and a beacon of light after the Dark Ages. ibid.
Florence grew out of a Roman military settlement. ibid.
The Medici – their money fuelled the Renaissance in Florence, financing important buildings and works of art. But their influence also attracted many enemies. ibid.
An inventor, mathematician and philosopher Galileo was fascinated with the telescope and its parts. He made his own lenses. ibid.
Move to Italy. I mean it: they know about living in debt; they don’t care. I stayed out there for five months while I was making a film called Order of Death and they’ve really got it sussed. Nice cars. Sharp suits. Great food. Stroll into work at 10. Lunch from 12 till three. Leave work at five. That’s living! John Lydon
For wheresoe’er I turn my ravish’d eyes,
Gay gilded scenes and shining prospects rise,
Poetic fields encompass me around,
And still I seem to tread on classic ground. Joseph Addison, A Letter from Italy
In 1947 one Western country in particular popped on the anti-communist radar: Italy ... The CIA continued to meddle in Italian elections for decades ... The US along with NATO went far further: brutally murdering Italy’s most popular prime minister – Aldo Moro … Conspiracy: Cold War Fears, Channel 5 2015
Gladio was so secret that their existence was only revealed as a result of a judicial enquiry in 1990. ibid.
This is Italy, land sacred to the gods. Pliney the elder
Newspapers were awash with sensational details of Italian crime families. The Italian Americans: La Famiglia 1890-1910, PBS 2015
At the dawn of the twentieth century over four million Italians arrived in America ... Those who remained struggled to find their place in the American mainstream. ibid.
By 1870, after only a decade of Italian unification, the economic conditions in the south forced many southern Italians to flee their villages in search of work in America. ibid.
The word Mafia began to crop up in newspapers across the country. ibid.
Overnight [Rudolph] Valentino became one of the silent-era film’s biggest stars. The Italian Americans: Becoming Americans 1910-1930
At the front of the picket lines were the Italians. ibid.
For Italians these festivals were more than a religious tradition – they were an affirmation of their culture. ibid.
Attorney General [A Mitchell] Palmer went on a mission to track down every last anarchist in America. ibid.
Now indicted for first-degree murder, Sacco and Vanzetti stood trial in the summer of 1921. From the start it was clear that the case was really about anarchy, and being Italian. ibid.
Johnson-Reed Act: which set strict immigration quotes for Italians. ibid.
Overnight, illegal bootlegging became a multi-million dollar trade. ibid.
The majority of Americans found mainstream success. ibid.
On July 1st 1941 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx Italian Joe di Maggio was on an electrifying forty-four game winning streak. The Italian Americans: Loyal Americans 1930-1945
La Guardia campaigned on a strong anti-corruption platform. ibid.
Italian-American families proudly sent their boys to war. ibid.
Italian-Americans increasingly came under suspicion by the federal government. ibid.
In California an estimated 10,000 Italian were forced to evacuate their homes. ibid.
The Rat Pack briefly became the Jack Pack. The Italian Americans: American Dream 1945–Today
TV screens across the country were inundated with reports of a government crack-down on organised crime. ibid.
Not all Italian-Americans had such a positive response to The Godfather. ibid.
Italian stereotypes have been mined for their entertainment value. ibid.
Many sorts of inanimate object were manufactured during the fascist era … Such potent symbols of modernity and the fast life. Jonathan Meades, Ben Building, Mussolini, Monuments and Modernism, BBC 2016
In time, the buildings made in fascist Italy will be purged of their fascist links. ibid.
The villas and the gardens that lay below Vesuvius were frozen in time. The Gardens of Pompeii, Sky Arts 2016
‘Gardens help you think’, wrote Cicero ... Fountains of beautiful water displays, statues and nyphaeums, the Romans cultivated their souls and intellect by walking, reading and meditating in the gardens of otium. ibid.
There’s so much of that invention and creativity still remains invisible. Italy’s Invisible Cities: Naples, BBC 2021
One of the oldest cities in the world. ibid.
Sinkholes are swallowing up Naples with alarming regularity. ibid.
The never-quite-finished Metro line, started in 1990, abandoned in 1994. ibid.
When it [volcano] erupted in 79 A.D. it was a complete shock. ibid.
400 people, one tenth the population, waiting on the shore for a rescue that never came. ibid.
To create one of Europe’s mightiest empires … Venice is built in 210 square miles of shallow lagoon. Italy’s Invisible Cities II: Venice
Venice grew rich by cornering the European market in exotic foods and spices from Asia. ibid.
This world of intrigue was the foundation of Florence’s renaissance glory. Italy’s Invisible Cities III: Florence
The dome was completed in 1436, over 250 years before St Paul’s in London … no-one knows how its dome was built. ibid.
The Medici was one of the wealthiest families in Europe. Florence the banking capital of Italy and they wanted a cathedral to match. ibid.
The town hall of Florence which has been standing here since the thirteenth century. ibid.
His speeches leave Italy bewitched. But behind all Benito Mussolini’s bluster and posturing lies a dark heart of violence and brutality. Evolution of Evil s1e7: Mussolini: The Father of Fascism, AHC 2015
By now Mussolini has completely turned his back on the left. He wants to forge his own path, one based on the glory of Italy and its Roman past. ibid.
They call themselves fascists; many of them wear the black shirt. ibid.
It’s the beginning of Italy’s descent into hell. ibid.
All political parties are closed down except the fascists. ibid.
FDR says he is deeply impressed by him. ibid.
At first its Hitler who apes his great hero. ibid.
Mussolini drops mustard gas on Ethiopia. ibid.
The invasion of Greece is a disaster … The war is becoming a humiliation for Italy. ibid.